Selected quad for the lemma: life_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
life_n	blood_n	body_n	spiritual_a	4,664	5	6.9444	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A12099	Five pious and learned discourses 1. A sermon shewing how we ought to behave our selves in Gods house. 2. A sermon preferring holy charity before faith, hope, and knowledge. 3. A treatise shewing that Gods law, now qualified by the Gospel of Christ, is possible, and ought to be fulfilled of us in this life. 4. A treatise of the divine attributes. 5. A treatise shewing the Antichrist not to be yet come. By Robert Shelford of Ringsfield in Suffolk priest.	Shelford, Robert, 1562 or 3-1627.	1635 (1635)	STC 22400; ESTC S117202	172,818	340

sacrifice of the old Law And according to this our Church-service enjoyneth us to come fasting and not full-gorged to holy feasts because as the book of Wisdome teacheth the body is heavy to the soul and th●●●ller it is the heavier it is Therefore S. Chrysostome saith that fasting and almes are to the soul wings to mount it up in prayer and contemplation to heavenly things Experience teacheth that the stronger the body is the weaker the spirit and grace is and that by the bodies delicates the soul becometh carnal and so adversary to things spirituall The ninth office is To sing holy psalmes and hymnes to Gods honour in his house and this is taught Ephes. 5. 18 19. Be not drunk with wine wherein is excesse but be filled with the Spirit Speaking to your selves in psalmes and hymnes and spirituall songs singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord. And again Coloss. 3. 16. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdome teaching and admonishing one another in psalmes and hymnes and spirituall songs singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. In which words is signified not onely the spirituall edifying of the soul in knowledge and understanding but further the speciall grace of holy singing in stirring up all our powers to praise God and to petition unto him with greater fervencie and alacritie By this trumpet of heart and mouth the devil is put to flight we encouraged to the spirituall warre and our sacrifice of praise pierceth the clouds And here by the way I am put in minde of the exceeding commendation which the ancient Divines give to the book of Psalmes above other Scriptures The tenth office respecteth Gods Ministers First in putting on the holy vestments for it is not fit that the maker of heavens ornaments should be served with common garments Gods house is a house of holinesse therefore holy vestments set apart for so high service best beseem it These intimate to all sorts in what a reverent manner God is to be served When the great Alexander the worlds conquerour came to Judea the holy nation to win it Josephus reporteth that the high priest Jaddus went out of Jerusalem to meet him wearing about him his priestly robes with which he served God in the Temple whom when he beheld in this solemne and sacred habit the storie sheweth that he reverenced him as Gods Minister fell prostrate on his face before the name of God which he bore on his breast-plate gave him his hand offered sacrifice to God according to his direction and granted what immunities and priviledges he would request for his nation It is likewise credibly reported by historians of no mean note and renown that Attilas king of the Hunnes in Germany who was called too truely as the Christians of those times by wofull experience testified THE SCOURGE OF GOD and TERROUR OF CHRISTIANS he having now made havock of the most part of Italy by sacking their towns burning their cities wasting their countrey demolishing their temples and savagely massacring ●●ose primitive Saints in all furie and madnesse marches to Rome utterly to rase down that Metropolis of Europe At which time Leo firnamed for his pietie the GREAT being Pope came out in ornaments truely pontificall to meet him but after a pious and learned oration little prevailing yet the storie affirms Pontificali indutus ornatu ipsam religionis majestatem conspicuè arguente non precum pondere sed vultu gravi habitúque sanctimoniam indicante venerandam nè Roman vastatum iret benignè persuasit Apparelled in his priestly vestments which plainly proved the very majestie of religion not with the fervencie of entreaty but with gesture grave and habit declaring his reverend sanctitie he gently perswaded him not to lay waste Rome And were our Churches and Priests naked of this ornament when Turks and Ethnicks should enter them would they not say Is the God of Christians so mean that he is no better served By this is signified the principall robe of Ministers fit for this house and service which is righteousnesse signified by the Urim and Thummim on the high priests breast-plate and rehearsed in Psalme 132. 9. Let thy priests be clothed with righteousnesse For that Minister who liveth innocently towards his neighbours and holily towards God alwaies beareth about with him his Urim and Thummim one signifying the light of knowledge and the other the perfection of charitie The second and principall part of the Ministers office is not onely to be clothe● with righteousnesse and to be an honest and just man but it is further the true understanding distinct reading and decent ministerie of the Church-service contained in the book of Common prayer This is the pith of godlinesse the heart of religion the Spina or Vertebrae the backbone of all holy faculties in the Christian body Which way soever you turn you here you shall finde the saying of our Saviour fulfilled Thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousnesse Desire you new life here is Baptisme to give it Are you gone from it here is the Baptisme of tears and penance to restore it Want you weapons for the spirituall warre here is the Catechisme and Confirmation Need you food for the new life here is the bread and wine of Christs body and bloud Want you supply of vertuous young souldiers here is Matrimonie and Christian education Need you leaders and governours here are Christs Ministers Want you provision for the journey to the high Jerusalem here is the viaticum of the heavenly Manna expressed in the Communion of the sick After this a wise and discreet Sermon not made by every Minister but by a man of reading and discretion right well beseemeth this holy place Preaching is Gods mouth to his people therefore great care must be had that it be not abused either with false doctrines or unsavourie speeches In this case S. Paul makes his exclamation Who is sufficient for these things How this is regarded none but the learned see Not how well but a Sermon of the vulgar is expected But would you know what Sermons are fit for our holy assemblies they are such as are suitable to our book of Common Service and the two heads of religion faith and good life If you would know what faith we are to follow it must be that which S. Paul calleth the one faith As there was but one Tabernacle and one Temple in the old Law to preserve the unitie of their religion so here must be but one faith amongst us Christians to keep us from diversitie of opinions all the world over This one faith Titus 1. 4. is called the common faith and of Divines it is called the Catholick faith to shew that they which hold not it cannot be of the Communion of saints And this faith is contained in the three Creeds of the Apostles of Nice and Athanasius And the false faith is that which is contrary to this

of works As the bodie without the spirit is dead so faith without works is dead also for where no works are there is no charitie and where no charitie is there faith and works and all is dead Therefore the Apostle saith Though I feed the poore with all my goods and have not charitie it profiteth me nothing Why because without charitie works are dead as well as faith and knowledge and other graces And where there is charitie that is to say a divine love to God and all goodnesse there all things are alive and every grace working to salvation Faith beleeveth to salvation hope hopeth to salvation knowledge knoweth to salvation all work by charities spirit Hence the School calleth charitie the form of vertues But you may say How prove you that divine love and charitie is the spirit that giveth life and motion to all other graces Thus because faith which is the first grace worketh by it Gal. 5. 6. For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing nor uncircumcision but faith which worketh by charitie Then as all the members of the bodie work by the power of the soul so faith and other graces in the spirituall body work by the power of charitie First because charitie is the impulse of the Christian soul. Neither can you with reason say that because faith is the first grace in spiritualitie therefore all animation and motion proceedeth from it because in generation the matter goeth before the form and in the body of man there is vegetation and animalitie common to other creatures before the reasonable soul come which is the sole beginning of actions reasonable Secondly I prove this because where is no charitie there all is dead as S. John sheweth He that loveth not his brother abideth in death Again We know that we are translated from death to life because we love the brethren Where love is there is life and where no love is there is no life Thirdly I prove this because God is our life but God is charitie as Saint John sheweth God is charitie and he that remaineth in charitie remaineth in God and God in him If God be charitie then charitie in the Christian must needs be his life because our charitie floweth from his charitie Fourthly I shew that charitie is the life of all vertues and graces because it is the root of the spirituall tree within us as S. Paul teacheth Ephes. 3. 17 18 19. That ye being rooted and grounded in charity may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge that ye may be filled with all the fulnesse of God Here ye see charitie to be the root therefore so long as the root lasteth no vertue or grace can wither in us but if the root die all die All comes from the root the leaves the blossoms the fruit If there be either ornament of vertue or fruit of grace in us all comes from the root of charitie Yea the life of vertue not onely comes from this root but there it is kept and preserved too for when winter and cold storms come then the sappe for shelter runnes down to the root and there it is preserved till the next spring so again when the winter of Gods wrath and storms of persecution assault the profession of the Gospel then by and by we retire to the root of charitie and there is our profession preserved till the storm be over Thus Peter denied his Master thrice when he was going to his death yet because he still loved his Master therefore his life remained in him in the time of persecution it lay hid in the root of charitie The Apostle goeth forward That ye may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the length and breadth and height and depth Charity breaks forth into all the dimensions of spirituall growth The prophet Isaiah rather then he would forsake his God was sawn asunder in the midst others were racked and would not be delivered they would not be delivered but held out to the death The blessed Marie Magdalene washt our Saviours feet with her tears and wiped them drie again with the hairs of her head Oh blessed charitie If thou hast this root in thee thou also shalt comprehend this breadth and length height and depth and thou shalt with these holy Saints say If I had been in their coats or had their occasions I would have done as they did This is that love of Christ which passeth knowledge and this is the fulnesse of God To proceed Charitie is the most excellent grace because it is the divine seed of a Christian by which we are born of God and freed from mortall sinne 1. John 3. 9. Whosoever is born of God sinneth not for his seed remaineth in him This seed S. Hierome in his 2 book against Jovinian and S. Austine in his 5 tract upon 1. John calleth charitie for in it is contained the beginning of our conversion to God which is a holy desire For no man desireth any thing untill he loves it but when he loves it then he desires it when he desires it then he seeks it after he hath sought it then he findes it according to that in the Gospel Seek and ye shall finde knock and it shall be opened and when a man hath found because he loves it entirely he will so cleave to it that he will not be removed from it So is it between the regenerate heart and God When God hath given a man a heart to love him then he beginnes to desire him when he desires him then he seeks him then he knocks at heaven gates by prayer and will not away till God open to him because his seed remaineth in him And after he hath found him then he so cleaves to him by hope and hangs so fast upon him that he will die before he leave him because faith hath perswaded him that God is his maker and redeemer and that he is moreover a rewarder of them that diligently seek him Heb. 11. 6. And how will he reward him not with gold and silver which are corruptible but with life everlasting and the joyes of heaven Oh here is enough we will seek no further Thus you see how love and charitie sets the soul to desire and seek God above all things and so charitie is the beginning of our conversion and after it hath begun it will never cease seeking untill it hath found and obtained Were a man by faith perswaded that God is the authour of all happinesse and that all the goods in heaven and earth lay in him treasured up yet if he should love the goods of the world more then God then he would never set his heart to seek and desire him But when faith hath enlightned the minde to know God then if the love of the heart will forsake the world and things

end of Christs suffering for us which I hope no good Christian will extenuate If Christ hath merited that the righteousnesse of the law should be fulfilled in us who are his members then the law is not impossible to be fulfilled of us but Christ hath merited that the righteousnesse of the law should be fulfilled in us therefore the law is not impossible to be fulfilled of us The major is true because it is blasphemie to discredit the efficacie and end of Christs merits The minor is as true by this scripture Rom. 8. 3. For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh God sending his own Sonne in the likenesse of sinfull flesh and for sinne condemned sinne in the flesh that is to say In sinnes room he condemned sinne If sinne be condemned then it cannot hurt us the fuit is at an end But to what end did God send his Sonne and condemne sinne in the flesh It followeth in the text that the righteousnesse of the law might be fulfilled in us It is not said That the righteousnesse of the law might be fulfilled in himself or for himself onely because he died not for himself nor had need of such a righteousnesse for that he was the lawgiver and had alwayes the laws fulnesse in himself before he wrought any thing but That the righteousnesse of the law might be fulfilled in us And how is that to be done not by faith onely or by bare imputation alone as the ignorant understand it but by our actuall walking in divine precepts and therefore it is said vers 4. Who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit But in our walking though it be after the Spirit the law is oft broken of us by sinnes of commission and sinnes of omission and therefore the laws righteousnesse is not fulfilled of us I answer As it is oft broken of us so it is as often repaired and satisfied and so all is made whole again and so he is in statu quo priús Tremelius upon the text hath Restituitur redintegratur à malo He is restored and made whole from the evil Which in Saint Augustines words is a spotlesse and blamelesse walking in Gods laws For in his book de perfectione justitiae speaking of many places of scripture urged for the perfection of the Saints he saith thus Horum testimoniorum aliqua currentes exhortantur ut perfectè currant aliqua ipsum finem commemorant quò currendo pertendant Ingredi autem sine macula non absurdè etiam ille dicitur non qui jam perfectus est sed qui ad ipsam perfectionem irreprehensibiliter currit carens omnibus criminibus damnabilibus atque ipsa peccata venialia non negligens mundare eleemosynis Some places exhort the runners that they may runne perfectly some mention the end to which they should tend Therefore he may be said without absurditie to enter spotlesse not who is already perfect but he which runnes inculpably to that perfection wanting all deadly sinnes and not forgetting to expiate his veniall sinnes by alms If he riseth not again so oft as he falleth either in number or vertue then he seemeth to be no more a just man Wherefore let every one as soon as he is down presently rise again Our sinnes of commission are repaired and reversed by repentance Ezech. 18. 21 22. But if the wicked will return from all his sinnes that he hath committed and keep all my statutes and do that which is lawfull and right he shall surely live he shall not die all his transgressions that he hath committed they shall not be mentioned unto him If it be thus to the wicked shall it not be as much to the godly when they sinne lesse and not with a full consent Our sinnes of omission are salved and supplied by prayer as S. Augustine insinuateth upon this point of giving the law unto us Admonet nos Deus facere quod possumus petere quod non possumus God by giving his law to us admonisheth us to do what we can and to ask that which we cannot do Whereupon it follows that obedience as farre as we can and prayer where we cannot in regard of the frailtie of the flesh maketh Gods law to us possible because in his Gospel he hath promised to give us that which we pray for as we ought to pray in which are included all our sinnes as well of commission as of omission These are the helps which the Gospel affordeth How are we to respect and frequent these two upon which our salvation so much dependeth were it not fit that these two should alwayes lie by us to be ready at every need The old law onely commandeth but giveth no power to perform but the new law not onely giveth precepts but also power and helps by the sacraments to perform because it is written in Christs bloud and so hath Christs spirit and life going together with it Therefore it is called of S. Paul The law of the Spirit of life and of S. James The law of libertie not because it gives men libertie to sinne but because it freeth from the lets and enlargeth mans heart through the spirit to perform it with alacritie and cheerfulnesse according to that of David I will runne the way of thy commandments when thou shalt enlarge my heart And to this belong the counsels of the gospel which go beyond the precepts of the law of which S. Chrysostome speaketh 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Christ commanded nothing impossible insomuch that many go beyond the very commandments And if it be demanded who ever did this he forthwith answers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 S. Paul S. Peter even all the quire of saints Lastly as Christs spirit and grace gives such power to go beyond the precepts so it is not incongruent that it should so modifie sinnes in his members to make them veniall and not killing in regard they are not done with a full consent but with a desire of doing the contrary of which the Apostle saith thus Rom. 7. 20. But if I do that I would not it is no more I that do it but sinne that dwelleth in me A third argument I have from the kindes of fulfilling Gods law which are two the inward and the outward The inward is the fulfilling of the law in desire The outward is the fulfilling of it in the bodies members prompted and put on by the mindes direction and affection The inward is more noble because it is more neare to the minde its originall and fountain and without whose act the bodies members could act nothing yet the outward is the more ample because it breaketh out further The inward fulfilling of necessity must be acknowledged or else we destroy the inward man and frustrate that great work of mans redemption Of this inward fulfilling thus speaketh the Apostle Rom. 7. 22. For I delight in the law of God after the